The Conservative Cave
Interests => Around the House & In the Garage => Topic started by: longview on October 08, 2012, 08:26:34 PM
-
I bought a light that is supposed to hang from the ceiling. I don't have an outlet/receptacle where I need this to go and want to adapt it to hang with a plug in at the wall.
The way it comes out of the box, there is a ground wire that is supposed to be anchored at the top to the brace. I'm guessing that since I will be running it off AC I can eliminate the ground wire. The outlet is grounded. Am I correct? Or, am I in for a zap?
I consider my knowledge, skills and experience to be at their lowest with anything electrical. And, if I hadn't thought of asking as this site, I would have just given it a shot. :-)
-
I bought a light that is supposed to hang from the ceiling. I don't have an outlet/receptacle where I need this to go and want to adapt it to hang with a plug in at the wall.
If it were me, I'd look at running a circuit from an existing light switch, if there's one nearby. You would most likely need to get up in the attic.
The way it comes out of the box, there is a ground wire that is supposed to be anchored at the top to the brace. I'm guessing that since I will be running it off AC I can eliminate the ground wire. The outlet is grounded. Am I correct? Or, am I in for a zap?
It looks like it's intended to be flush mounted in the ceiling
I would use the ground. Don't eliminate it.
I consider my knowledge, skills and experience to be at their lowest with anything electrical. And, if I hadn't thought of asking as this site, I would have just given it a shot. :-)
-
I bought a light that is supposed to hang from the ceiling. I don't have an outlet/receptacle where I need this to go and want to adapt it to hang with a plug in at the wall.
The way it comes out of the box, there is a ground wire that is supposed to be anchored at the top to the brace. I'm guessing that since I will be running it off AC I can eliminate the ground wire. The outlet is grounded. Am I correct? Or, am I in for a zap?
I consider my knowledge, skills and experience to be at their lowest with anything electrical. And, if I hadn't thought of asking as this site, I would have just given it a shot. :-)
It looks to me like some wire fishing is needed, along with an electrical junction box to be mounted to the ceiling joist. That means, a hole will need to be cut into your ceiling drywall (but not so big as the light's base plate won't cover up the opening) - only big enough to expose the junction box.
Typically, in a situation like this, you'll have to run wire (as WS indicated) from a nearby switch up in between your wall, up into your attic and then over to the junction box. This is known as "fishing" since you can't see the wire that you're running.
Then, the "fished" wire is hard-wire connected to the light's wires - black is positive/hot; white is neutral; and ground is either a bare wire or green. The same color wires are connected using wire nuts and then carefully packed inside the junction box. Then your light's base plate mounts to the junction box. If the base plate stays mounted to the rest of the light, then the entire light is mounted to the junction box.
If this "fishing" stuff sounds like a PITA, it is. A licensed, bonded electrician can do this fairly easily as he's going to have the experience and probably an extra tool or two in his toolbox that helps with this.
Alternatively, the wire can be run on the wall and ceiling surface inside a conduit that is more decorative than a galvanized steel tube, but that still looks crappy.
-
You can not ground it and it will come on but I wouldn't advise anyone doing it.
-
Thanks. Glad I asked.
I also stopped at the school because I saw the maintenance bus was there. The fellow told me more than I understand, but bottom line is that I have to continue with the ground. He and his wife are going to come over tomorrow night and show me how to install an upgraded electrical outlet. The area is a converted sun porch so no attic.
He said his house is a typical "the cobbler's kids wear no shoes" and his wife has become handy. He said she will translate his technical talk. I just have to feed them.
-
Thanks. Glad I asked.
I also stopped at the school because I saw the maintenance bus was there. The fellow told me more than I understand, but bottom line is that I have to continue with the ground. He and his wife are going to come over tomorrow night and show me how to install an upgraded electrical outlet. The area is a converted sun porch so no attic.
He said his house is a typical "the cobbler's kids wear no shoes" and his wife has become handy. He said she will translate his technical talk. I just have to feed them.
:-) :-) :-) Rented an apartment in the Ghetto, homes due to be destroyed in 5 years, very inexpensive. We needed a ceiling fan, Hubby and I went to 3-4 stores that specialised in lighting and fans, We talked to a dozen or so people that were experts in this, they gave us all kinds of booklets on how to DIY install a fan. We bought the instructions home and neather he or I could understand them.
Daddy on his death bed told us how to install a fan--------Drill hole in the ceiling, insert a 2x4 board through the hole, 6-8 inches on both sides of the hole. Attach the fan with a swag to the board, screw in the base of the fan to the board. Take swag to the next wall and secure with a cuphook, run the wire down the wall and plug into an electrical out let..
Worked great for the next 2 years we took the fan with us when we bought our home ,by then we knew enough about how to replace the ceiling lights with smaller fans with lights.
-
I consider my knowledge, skills and experience to be at their lowest with anything electrical. And, if I hadn't thought of asking as this site, I would have just given it a shot. :-)
Hire a licensed electrician.........(http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/images/smilies/BangHead.gif)
-
Hire a licensed electrician.........(http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/images/smilies/BangHead.gif)
Union lover :tongue:
:wink:
-
Better a licensed electrician (not all are union) than 911.........
-
Better a licensed electrician (not all are union) than 911.........
I was just ribbing ya! :)
-
I was just ribbing ya! :)
I know....(http://www.conservativecave.com/Smileys/default/biggrin.gif)....
I was just trying to caution longview about the potential hazards of installing and wiring electrical outlets.
-
Hire a licensed electrician.........(http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/images/smilies/BangHead.gif)
I thought about it. But, apparently the nearest electrician, I don't know if they are licensed, is more than two hours away in one of two towns. I doubt they'd even come out and if they did I wouldn't be able to afford the travel costs. The rancher that owns the house offered, but I've even fixed some of his plumbing work. And I'm by no means great at that, just slow, picky, and patient.
I think this maintenance guy and his wife will do okay. He does the area schools (plumbing, heating, electrical, finish work), and said she wired their shop on her own and does all the remodeling in their house.
-
The neutral wire and ground are connected to the same place in the circuit breaker box in houses. I've installed a fan w/ a light in an apartment before with no adjacent switch. I wound up running the chain with the wire interwoven down to an outlet. It worked fine and was never a safety hazard. Black is normally the "hot" wire with white being the neutral. Green is obviously ground.
-
The neutral wire and ground are connected to the same place in the circuit breaker box in houses. I've installed a fan w/ a light in an apartment before with no adjacent switch. I wound up running the chain with the wire interwoven down to an outlet. It worked fine and was never a safety hazard. Black is normally the "hot" wire with white being the neutral. Green is obviously ground.
A lot of regular lamps and light fixtures don't even have a ground wire on them, just the standard two prong plug.
-
(http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=i.4558155044815240&pid=1.9)
http://linkfroggy.com/blog/Duct-tape-will-fix-everything-a87.html